Mine roof supports

ABSTRACT

A mine roof support comprises two assemblies one in front of another. The forward assembly carries a mined-material conveyor means, staker means, and a guide or support carrying a mineral winning machine such as a rotary shearer. The rearward assembly serves to support the roof. The support as a whole can be installed in a mine road way or in the stable and can advance itself to extend the roadway or to form a new stable.

United States Patent small [451 July 18, 1972 4] MINE ROOF SUPPORTS R f n Cited [72] Inventor: Fred Small, Ormskirk, England UNITED STATES PATENTS [73] Assignee: Gulli k D b Li Inca, wigan, 3,471,201 10/1969 Small ..299/3l Lanca hi E d 3,293,521 12/1966 Van Vrdonhoven ..299/l X [22] Filed: 1970 Primary Examiner-Emest R. Purser 21 APPL NM 81,270 Attorney-Herman, Davidson and Herman 30 {57] ABSTRACT 1 Foreign Apphcafion Pnomy Data A mine roof support comprises two assemblies one in front of Oct. 16, 1969 Great Britain ..50,856/69 h rh forw rd assembly carries a mined-material conveyor means, staker means, and a guide or support carrying a [52] US. Cl ..299/31, 299/1, 299/33 mineral Winning machine Such as a y Shear The rear [51] Int. Cl, I 1521c 29/02 ward assembly serves to support the roof. The support as a [5 8] whole can be installed in a mine road way or in the stable and Field of Search ..299/l, 30, ll, 31, 32, 43

can advance itself to extend the roadway or to form a new stable.

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MINE ROOF SUPPORTS This invention is for improvements in or relating to methods of mineral (e.g. coal) mining and equipment for use in such methods.

A method of longwall mining now well known makes use of self-advancing roof supports which are advanced in turn or in groups towards the newly exposed mineral face following the advance of the face conveyor. In the arrangement the supports each comprise two units one behind the other or one alongside the other with hydraulic ram means which when operated in one direction uses one unit as an abutment to push the other unit towards the newly exposed mineral face and when operated in the reverse direction uses this said other unit as an anchorage, to advance the first mentioned unit, the units being appropriately relieved of roof pressure. In another arrangement, one or more of the supports are used to push a face conveyor forwardly towards the newly mined face and then the support orsupports are lowered one at a time and drawn up to the conveyor. Such arrangements have not heretofore been applicable to short wall methods of mining such as the working of the stable or advancing the road way and one object of the present invention is to apply such methods to short wall mining.

According to the present invention there is provided a method of mining in which a forward operating assembly carryihg conveyor means, staker means and guide or support means carrying a mineral winning machine is advanced by a rearward roof support assembly which is then advanced in its turn after staking the forward assembly and retracting the rear assembly from the roof.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a mining machine comprising a forward operating assembly including conveyor means, staker means for securing the forward operating assembly between roof and floor of the working, and a guide or support means carrying a mineral winning machine, a rearward roof support assembly and ram means operative to advance the forward operating assembly and the rearward roof support assembly in turn when the respective assembly has been temporarily released from between roof and floor, the conveyor means being positioned so that mineral is collected and carried away as it is mined from a face, to, for example, a conveyor set at an angle such as a right angle to the face.

Preferably the staker means of the forward assembly includes a transverse roof-engaging beam whose length approximates to the length of the face.

In one preferred arrangement a part of the conveyor means is in the form of a ramp plate so that the mined mineral is scooped onto the conveyor means as the forward unit is advanced.

The conveyor means is preferably an endless conveyor and a convenient form of endless conveyor is that comprising a series of paddles attached to an endless chain and arranged to travel over at least part of its length along troughs or the like.

As an alternative to an endless conveyor the conveyor means may comprise the ramp at the front of the support which, as the supports are advanced, picks up the mined mineral and directs it onto a longitudinal conveyor such as a conveyor at the rear of the ramp.

The guide or support means for the mineral winning machine may be rails adjustable in a vertical plane to enable the machine to be steered or adjusted in accordance with any faults or undulations in the mineral seam being mined. This adjustment may be effected by hydraulic ram means. The winning machine is preferably a bi-directional cutter.

The conveyor will also have a degree of flexibility in the vertical plane but generally it will be a rigid unit so far as any lateral movement is concerned in as much as it is proposed to advance it bodily relative to the supports.

The invention will be further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows in plan a block diagram of the major components of a mining machine,

FIG. 2 shows in side elevation a two leg support used in this embodiment,

FIG. 3 shows the arrangement of staking legs on a forward operating assembly of the mining machine,

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a detail of a gate conveyor,

FIG. 5 shows a detail of a limit valve to prevent actuation of the drive motor for a mineral winning machine,

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of rails for a coal winning machine,

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-section through a conveyor of the forward operating assembly, and

FIG. 8 is a view of the mining machine from the rear looking towards the working face.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 8 the machine consists of a rear support assembly 10 and a forward operating assembly 11 in a mine heading 9.

The rear support assembly 10 consists of two leg roof supports 14 arranged in three pairs. Each two leg support comprises a ground engaging member 14a, a roof supporting member 14b and two extensible'legs 14c urging the members 14a and 14b apart (as shown in FIG. 2). The outer pairs 15, 16 of roof supports 14 are coupled together both at roof and floor level by pivotal links 17 to allow relative vertical movement between the supports in the pair but preserving the parallel relationship between the supports. The inner pair 18 of roof supports are also coupled together by pivotal links 19 which permit relative vertical movement between the supports in the pair but preserving their parallel relationship. These pivotal links 19 straddle over a gate conveyor 20 attached to the operating assembly 11 of the machine.

The forward operating assembly 11 of the machine comprises an endless scraper chain conveyor 21 travelling over ramp plates 22 (disposed both to receive falling mineral from a coal winning machine and to scoop loose mineral from the floor of the heading as the machine is advanced) and in a trough 23 at the rear of the assembly '11. The trough discharges its material onto the gate conveyor 20 previously referred to. The ramp and the trough are made in sections so that the ramp and the trough can conform to changes of floor. Also on this forward operating assembly 11 there is a pair of rails 25 for a rotary disc shearing machine or other mineral or rock cutting or winning machine 26 to travel along. The machine 26 is bi-directional that it can cut on both directions of movement along the rails 25. These rails (as shown in FIG. 6) are made in alternately long and short sections 25:: and 25b pivotted to each other by pins 250 and hydraulic ram means 27 are provided to displace the short sections 2512 (which are mounted on pivotal arms 25a) in a vertical arc to control the cut of the shearing machine so that it can follow a seam.

The bi-directional rotary disc shearing machine 26 has two shearing discs 28, 29 which have provision for attachment of cutting blades both on the rim and the face of the discs.

The operating assembly of the machine has staking meansin the form of two hydraulically extensible legs 32 which operate on a beam 33 which runs transversely to the heading being cut, that is, parallel to the rails 25 for the shearing machine. Attached to this transverse beam 33 there are two rearwardly extending cantilever bars 34 which each extends between the innermost pair 18 of supports and a respective one of the outermost pairs 15, 16. Each of these rearwardly extending cantilever bars 34 is supported by an associated hydraulically extensible leg 36 from a base 37 which is attached to the main part of the operating assembly by a pair of pivotal or springy links 38.

These bars 34 can extend completely through the rear as sembly so as to support the roof above the rear assembly as it is advanced. They can cooperate with a rear transverse beam with its own support legs which, whilst behind the rear assembly, forms part of the forward assembly.

An advancing ram 39 is associated with each of the two supports of the innermost pair 18 of supports and with each pair of the outermost supports. These rams 39 are attached to clevises 40 on a rail 41 which runs along the back of the main part of the operating assembly and is interrupted to allow the passage of the gate conveyor.

The gate conveyor 20 is a scraper bar conveyor made in pivotal sections and which is arranged to have a rise at the rear end so that the coal can be discharged into trucks or onto a further, roadway, conveyor. The pivots between the sections are made as illustrated in FIG. 4, Brackets 42 and 43 are bolted to both sides of a base 44, and at each end, of each conveyor section. A bracket 42 and a bracket 43 form a pair of brackets which overlie each other with a bracket 42 having a male circular-in-section projection 45 which seats in a central aperture or recess 46 in the bracket 43.

To allow a man to walk along the machine between the forward and rearward legs of the supports, the pivotal link 19 at floor level between the two innermost supports is made of a continuous or perforated sheet or steel so that a man can crawl or walk over it without any risk of coming into contact with mined mineral on the gate conveyor or any other moving object.

The power for the machine is derived from an electrical driven pump unit which supplies the power in the form of a pressurized hydraulic fluid which consists of a mixture of water and oil. The motor pump unit can be disposed out of range of any fire hazard. The fluid is used to actuate the support legs, the staking legs, and also the motor for driving the conveyors and the shearing machine. The motors for driving the conveyors and the rotary disc shearing machine operate on their respective driven members by means of chains and are reversible. The chains associated with the conveyors form part of the conveyors arid the scrapers are attached to these chains.

The control of the machine can be accomplished from a central command station but it is preferred to have controls for the individual units. It will be however apparent that the controls for each pair of supports are grouped. It is also preferred that the forward operating assembly of the machine is treated as a unit and has its own control station. Safety devices can be incorporated into the machine and a typical example is illustrated in FIG. 5. This safety device is an end-oftravel valve to prevent the shearing machine being driven hard against an end abutment. It comprises a limit valve 51 for closing off the hydraulic supply, one such valve being disposed at each end of the forward operating assembly or on each side of the shearing machine. The limit valve 51 has associated with it a respective hydraulically extensible element 52 which element is extended by fluid at the pressure used to drive the shearing machine towards the respective end. Thus when the shearing machine is being driven towards one end the respective element will be extended and thus the respective valve will stop fluid flow before the absolute end of travel. At this time the shearing machine will be stopped but on subsequent operation of the control valve to move the shearing machine away from the end, the pressure will be released from the extendible element which will allow the valve, which is suitably spring loaded, to permit flow to the motor once again. On the other hand the valve will remain closed during any attempt to drive the shearing machine in the previous direction of travel. Conveniently the element 52 comprises a plunger 60 slidable in a stepped bore 56 of a cylinder body 55. A plunger 57 of the valve 51 projects into the larger diameter end of this bore and is rendered captive therein by a transverse pin 58. A link 53 under the bias of a spring 54 carries a roller 59 so that abutment of the roller against the shearing machine or a fixed abutment as required causes actuation of the valve 51 through the element 52.

I claim 1. A mining machine, for winning material from a mineral face, comprising a forward operating assembly including conveyor means, staker means for securing the forward operating assembly between the floor and roof of a mine working, and a guide or support means extending along said face and carrying a mineral winning machine, a rearward roof sup rt assembly and ram means operative to advance the forwar operating assembly and the rearward roof support assembly in turn towards the mineral face when the respective assembly has been temporarily released from between roof and floor, the conveyor means being positioned so that mineral is collected and carried away to, for example, a conveyor set at an angle, such as a right angle, to the face, wherein the staker means of the forward assembly comprises hydraulically extensible leg means and a transverse roof engaging beam mounted on said leg means and extending parallel to said guide or support means and whose length approximates to the length of the mineral face.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the staker means of the forward assembly also comprises cantilever roof engaging bars attached to and extending rearwardly from said transverse roof engaging beam and between roof supports of the rearward roof support assembly. 

1. A mining machine, for winning material from a mineral face, comprising a forward operating assembly including conveyor means, staker means for securing the forward operating assembly between the floor and roof of a mine working, and a guide or support means extending along said face and carrying a mineral winning machine, a rearward roof support assembly and ram means operative to advance the forward operating assembly and the rearward roof support assembly in turn towards the mineral face when the respective assembly has been temporarily released from between roof and floor, the conveyor means being positioned so that mineral is collected and carried away to, for example, a conveyor set at an angle, such as a right angle, to the face, wherein the staker means of the forward assembly comprises hydraulically extensible leg means and a transverse roof engaging beam mounted on said leg means and extending parallel to said guide or support means and whose length approximates to the length of the mineral face.
 2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the staker means of the forward assembly also comprises cantilever roof engaging bars attached to and extending rearwardly from said transverse roof engaging beam and between roof supports of the rearward roof support assembly. 